


Eyes Of The High Seas

by ColdWhiteLight



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: M/M, Pirates, Sailing, Sirens, possible pairings in the next chapters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:41:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23362651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColdWhiteLight/pseuds/ColdWhiteLight
Summary: The high seas are rumoured to be riddled with legendary creatures, deadly both in their beauty and their taste for human flesh.Dare to meet one?
Relationships: Kimi Räikkönen/Sebastian Vettel
Comments: 29
Kudos: 179





	Eyes Of The High Seas

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Itsallright](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itsallright/gifts).



> Happy birthday, Cy! 💞

Sebastian was angry.

He was on the deck, portside of the ship, watching his crew load the cargo for their next voyage. 

Normally, this wasn't his job. His quartermaster Daniel would be the one who'd observe the proceedings and Seb would have been elsewhere. Possibly in the town, going through the stores to see if the merchants had anything new for him to amuse himself with during their next voyage. Books, maps and charts written by other sailors and privateers, or new binoculars and lenses and compasses and watches… He liked having the latest and thus the most accurate means that might aid to his job. But currently, he really didn't have any will or want in him to leave his ship and be elsewhere so carefreely when there was this person Sebastian didn't want on his ship who was currently standing close to him and watching the proceedings.

The man's name was Mark Webber, tall and burly with an imposing grit. Sebastian knew nothing of him and he hated being in the dark like that. Here, he was about to set out for a long journey across the ocean and his patron forced him to accept this man to tag along with them on a filmsy excuse. 

He was aware that lately his patron, Sir Horner, was taking loans and going under risks that he really didn't need to. But the other man was a proper noble and had accumulated a large enough fortune to buy himself a town if his fancy would strike him so. Thus, it was easy to guess what kind of shady business he had to be dealing with behind closed doors, too. 

The cargo that they were loading up was of the usual kind. Grains, wine, cured fine meat, and salt… Nothing out of the ordinary for them. So, Sebastian really didn't understand why this Webber person had to be present under the job description of _'looking over the proceedings and having the authority to inform their patron whenever he seemed necessary'_. 

This sounded and smelled so fishy that Sebastian seriously considered just refusing to carry the cargo. Then again, it meant taking the risk of losing Horner's patronage, which was a steady source of a very handsome income for his crew. 

In the long haul, if Horner would decide to defame them for their refusal, it might even mean getting out of business and eventually stooping down to the level of either turning to piracy or buying a patch of land and farming. Neither he, nor his men liked the alternatives, so he tried to turn a blind eye to the other man's presence and his sour attitude just for this once. 

Sebastian eyed his patron on the harbour, talking with his boatswain, Lewis. The man seemed a bit disgruntled, sweating in his fancy frilly clothes, explaining something to Lewis who was nodding at him, but also giving Sebastian a furtive glance every now and then, belaying his discomfort. Sebastian knew that they were going to have a talk about it later in the evening.

His musings were interrupted by the displeased voice of their unwanted guest. "I would like to see how the cargo is handled under the deck." Sebastian resisted grimacing openly, but his expression tightened even more as he turned a bit sideways and faced the taller man.

"They are being tied up together in groups to balance out the weight. And I can assure you, there is nothing fascinating to see below deck." He explained with a bit of a snide. This man clearly knew nothing about how the ships worked and it was getting more and more irritating to explain every little detail to him.

But Webber did not budge and kept their eye contact pointedly, his square jaw moving a little as if he was ganshing his teeth together a bit.

 _Good_ , Sebastian thought. At least, he wasn't the only person who was displeased with their current arrangements. Waving his hand in exasperated dismissal, he showed him the way. "If you really insist…" 

Webber followed him without a word and together, they went down the stairs from the main deck to the cargo compartment.

Here, the men were diligently rolling and moving around the large barrels and securing them in groups in accordance to their weight, using long ropes. There really was nothing interesting about it, but of course, Webber found something to criticise again. "They are not handling the barrels much gently."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at that. "Since there's nothing fragile in them?" He quipped back as if in question, but Webber went on arguing.

"No. But I don't want my client's goods spilling all around here uselessly."

His patience thinning, Sebastian answered calmly. "Look, the barrels are already as heavy as they get… Come to think of it… Are they layered with stone or what?" He asked offhandedly, without seeing how Mark's jaw tightened at his question. "Let my men do their job, will you? They never make the goods go to waste if they can help it." And he turned back to the stairs to indicate that their inspection here was over.

Webber followed him out, too, but not without giving the sailors a deadly glare which didn't escape from their sharp eyes.

Up on the deck, Sebastian left the uptight man to his own devices and approached his quartermaster. The younger man was looking through his lists and talking with the carpenter Pierre and the cook Romain animatedly. When he saw their captain approaching, he acknowledged him with a nod and a huge smile. 

"How are things on your end, Dan?" 

"We were going over what we've already loaded and what we still need to, Se-... Captain." Daniel looked bashful at his mistake, but Sebastian only smirked at his faked innocence. 

He was aware that sometimes Daniel deliberately acted as if he was about to call him with his name, foregoing the formalities of being on duty. Sebastian really didn't care, though. He had been working with some of his crew since he'd been a boy and nothing more than a helping hand on the deck. Especially, Daniel and Lewis… The three of them were all close in age and together since they had been teens. Being called with his name by them actually felt better.

"We'll go over your list in the evening during dinner." He nodded and Daniel went back to his work, Pierre and Romain nodding at him in salutation. 

Leaving them to their work, he looked up at the crow's nest perched on the main mass of the ship and as expected, he saw Lando there. The boy was their main look-out and working on this ship since the time Sebastian had found him in a tavern covered in grime and dirt and poverty. He was a shy but diligent boy, preferring his lonesomeness. In that high perch of his, he liked reading whatever he could put his hands on, having recently learned how to read and write. So Sebastian just let him do as he pleased. "Ate your lunch, Lando?" He couldn't help but ask and immediately the boy looked down at him with a huge smile.

"Yes, Sir!"

"Was it any good?" Sebastian asked with a mischievous smile, aware that Romain could hear their exchange.

Lando appeared to be trying to make himself smaller and hide in the nest. "It had milk in it, so I can't complain!" He told him, earning some chuckles from the men nearby and Romain's raised eyebrow.

Messing with his men was not something Sebastian did often, but he really liked Lando's appetite and Romain's attitude against anyone who dared to criticize his dishes. "Don't take it to the heart, Romain…" He smiled at the older man and saw him shake his head good naturedly at Lando.

"Savour it while the milk lasts, boy!" Romain jibed without any real bite and Lando poked his tongue out at him, giggling. 

Sebastian saw all that, but pretended he didn't. His men's banter had settled some of his ruffled feathers down, but the source of his displeasure still stood there like a stick stuck in the mud, hard to ignore.

Finally, when Lewis climbed back up to the ship, Sebastian gave an inaudible sigh and retreated back to his cabin to enjoy a beer in solitude while he still could before he'd resign himself to the task of babysitting this total stranger who nitpicked anything and everything they did.

The next day was no different. 

They were all up and about very early in the morning. As usual, when the expert consultant and the commissary from the insurance company boarded the ship, Lewis showed them around the ship, talking them through the repairs and renovations the ship had gone through since their last voyage. There wasn't much for the men to criticize, because the ship was in top condition. Then, Daniel let them inspect their cargo, gave them the official reports about the state of the weaponry and the gunnery. And then there was the dock reports about the weights of their goods and their current worth in gold.

Sebastian waited for all the procedures to be finalized with Horner and Webber beside him. His patron appeared to be quite eager for the commissary to finish his inspection. 

Companies offering insurance for the ships and the cargo that they carried was a relatively new business and the risk they took was immense. But in most cases, it was highly profitable as the pirate activity had lessened marginally in the recent years and the privateers very rarely dared to attack trade ships in fear of losing their grants from their Kings and Queens. All traders who'd choose the services of the insurance companies were generally quite a bit displeased by the tedious inspections of the commissaries, but as Sebastian observed, his patron appeared to be even more so.

True, the man generally acted on the edge, but not like this. "Why the rush?" He asked, narrowing his eyes down at Horner and Webber. 

His patron looked at him from the edge of his nose with unveiled disdain. "Don't butt your nose into things that doesn't concern you, Vettel."

The gruff berating put a deep grimace on Sebastian's face. The noble man had the habit of treating anyone of lower station like the dirt under his shoes, but Sebastian would never shut up about things if they bothered him. Being subservient was not in his nature.

"Something has gotten your pants in a twist recently and it shows… _Sir_." He bit on the last word, his body language turning midly offensive. His sly smirk and tight stance drew the attention of both his own crew on the deck and that of Horner's men and Webber. "If there's something I need to know, now is a good time to talk about it." He eyed the two men with a deep frown.

The noble looked back at him for a moment as if he assessed Sebastian from head to toe, his men beside him ready to attack if he so desired. "Lately, your tongue is getting longer, Captain…" His answering tone was surprisingly calmer than how he looked. "Instead of trying to nitpick everything, do your own part of the work best."

One of Sebastian's eyebrows rose up at the man's audacity. "The nitpicker here is standing on your right side, Sir… He is the one with no use to me on this ship." 

"Vettel, let me remind you something. I am the one who is helping you pay the loan you people got to but this ship. I give you work and let you earn your living. Your ship is nothing but a pile of timber unless you can find more cargo to carry." 

At Horner's words, a mocking smile appeared on Webber's face and it infuriated Sebastian more than anything. The message was clear. Liked it or hated it, Sebastian and his crew had to go along with it this time, if they wanted to keep their livelihood and passion intact. But sometimes, like now, there was nothing more tempting than just flipping the birdie off at this man and look elsewhere for their future. Most of Sebastian's crew was barely thirty years old. Hell, he was just in his late twenties; so, taking risks for men with able bodies like them shouldn't be a problem. But he could only decide for himself, not in thirty nine men's stead.

"Any problem with that?" His patron asked with a belittling tone.

Sebastian contained his ire well and shook his head, not shy of looking back at the man with murder in his eyes. 

"Right, then… Have a nice voyage across the Atlantic, Captain." With those perfunctory parting words, Horner left his side and approached the people of the insurance company with a huge and fake smile on his face.

Sebastian didn't want to watch what was left of the farcical proceedings and sighed hugely, thinking that nobody would hear him. But a strong hand patted him on the shoulder as if to console him and he turned around to find his helmsman, Nico, beside him. 

"He is an absolute ass." Nico put his verdict upon Horner without even trying to tone his voice down. 

Sebastian snorted and then smiled at the outspoken man. "Careful, he'll hear you." He warned, but knew that the taller man didn't give a damn about it.

Shrugging in that endearingly rugged way of his, Nico put his hands on his hips and smirked. "I work for you, not him. I don't care." He pursed his lips before grinning wickedly. "Needs a good spanking, but I don't think anyone would willingly touch that dirty ass."

Sebastian openly laughed at that, shaking his head at the other man. "Not even for gold…" He agreed. 

With his laugh, his crew also relaxed and turned back to their work with lighter hearts as the insurance company men finished their work. The papers got signed and Sebastian took the ones belonging to their ship and paid the fee from his and the crew's common budget. The rest wasn't his business.

He watched the men leave the deck and then the dock in their carriages. _Good riddance_ , he thought, running a hand through his hair, still annoyed. Now, if only this Webber person would stay put and not get in anyone's way, it would be great. But Sebastian seriously doubted that.

"Make your last preparations to sail out in the afternoon, men!" He ordered and his crew cheered in unison as the deck burst with activity to prepare the sails and the ropes. 

This was going to be one of their usual voyages, nothing more, nothing less. They had done this so many times already and carried around passengers from time to time, too. Ignoring Webber's presence was going to be hard at first on a ship, albeit it was a relatively big one, but Sebastian believed that it could be done. The guy already disappeared into the small cabin that was vacated by Daniel for everyone's convenience. The less the most man walked around uselessly, the better for them all.

So, it actually went on like Sebastian had expected for quite a while after they left the dock behind them and set their sails onto the States.

The ocean was calm and the sky was blue. Within a few days, there was nothing to see on the horizon but the vastness of the colour blue in all its shades and hues from morning till night. 

Sebastian especially loved the night time while sailing. Though it was generally considered dangerous to sail at night, they were still on well charted waters with three look-outs at night on the deck, together with either him or Nico at the helm. He loved watching the stars and the moon. 

On nights when there was a full moon like this, he'd trust his compass and charts and just let the ship glide on the inky black waters with sails half unmoored if there was some wind to fill them.

Tonight, one week into their endeavor, Sebastian was at the helm with Daniel and Lewis on the upper deck with him, sitting on the planks close to the railing. Daniel was drinking and singing them a song with a hushed voice and they were listening to him, watching the moon.

After a while, when Daniel fell silent, Lewis began to talk in an equally measured voice. "Webber was seen sending messages through a hawk." He reported. Daniel offered him his bottle and he took a sip before giving it back.

"How many times and when?" Sebastian whispered back, taking a glance at his two friends.

"Once… Yesterday." Lewis looked back at him even as he tinkered with his pocket watch. "Lando says he sent the bird around four in the morning. The bird apparently flew towards the land."

It wasn't uncommon for sailors to use prey birds to communicate with the land or with each other while on the sea, but what would Mark need to write to the land and who would he want to contact with?

"He is getting on my nerves more and more." He gruffly muttered and the other men hummed their agreement. 

"Possibly written to Horner…" Daniel guessed, taking a hearty sip from his bottle. "But I got the men on his case. Don't worry, Seb." 

Assured by his quartermaster's words, Sebastian's tight expression softened a bit. "I can't wait to dump his ass in the next harbor and never see him again." He confessed.

Lewis and Daniel chuckled softly at his words, Daniel raising his bottle at him. "Cheers to that, mate." 

"No, but really…" Sebastian realized that they assumed he was joking. "Finding a new patron or even turning to fishermen is better than putting up with Horner's shit."

His serious expression and the determined glint in his eyes sobered the other men up, too. 

After a moment's silence, Lewis smirked. "I'd drink to that." And Daniel readily gave away his bottle for Lewis to take a good long sip from it. 

"I'm all for it, too, Captain." The younger man agreed with his own smirk.

Glad that his friends were willing to take a risk together with him, Sebastian tied the helm wheel up to keep a linear route and went to sit down besides the other men. Lewis immediately passed him the bottle.

"We're going to have a lot to discuss when we reach on the other side of the Atlantic." He huffed. "But now… The moon is beautiful." Grinning, he drank his own share of the rum after giving a toast to the moon.

* * *

The second week was about to finish when the crew began to whisper about their favourite gossip material yet again. 

Actually, they were all both terrified and yet fascinated by the stories the guards of a night before would relate to them the come morning in the galley. Maybe, because the morning light took away most of the severity out of the horrific possibility of those stories being real, the sailors were all both sceptical and yet enthralled with the idea.

The raving matter at question was the sirens, of course. Or mermaids… Well, whatever the men wanted to call them as, the name didn't matter. But Sebastian cared about what the guards would tell of the happenings of a night before. Because, the ship was abuzz with what one of the guards was claiming to have witnessed last night.

Sebastian liked eating together with his crew, so, currently he was in the galley and waiting for Romain to hand him his grub as he listened to his men chatter about the legendary creatures.

"I tell you, I saw his fin…" That guard was excitedly talking, mouth still chewing on his food.

" _His_ fin?" Somebody asked in disbelief and a few men laughed. 

"It was a male!" The guard argued back. "Short pale hair… I swear I saw his eyes, too!"

A few more men laughed at the guard, making his face turn red in anger. 

"How drunk were you, Gervase?" Romain asked good naturedly then while he brought up Sebastian's plate and bread. 

More laughter followed that question and Sebastian felt the need to intervene. "Gervase never drinks when on duty." He calmly stated and the laughter ceased as if it was cut with a knife. "Now, tell me about it." 

Upon the urging, the guard looked around at the other men for a moment before he sat up straighter and caught Sebastian's expectant eyes. "I was guarding the rear end of the ship, Captain. It was way past midnight when I saw the waters ripple gently and as if a huge fish was following the ship, racing with it…" 

By now, everyone was silent and listening to the man, their meals forgotten on their laps or on the tables. 

"I would have thought that it was just a dolphin or maybe a huge rapier fish… But his fin was in a reddish color… And I saw his hair… Short, blond… A bit longer at the top."

"Gervase, you realize that the red colour might be the reflection of the stern lanterns, right?" Sebastian asked. 

The guard seemed a bit in doubt, then. "But I swear I saw him peeking his head out a bit, Captain!" He insisted. "I couldn't make out more than the top of his head," He touched his own forehead and hair. "But I am sure I was in my right mind." 

Sebastian resisted sighing at the vagueness of the man's claims, but he also didn't want him to think that he wasn't believing in his claims. "We'll be extra careful from now on." He nodded in a solemn manner. "I want all of you to keep your eyes peeled open during your night shifts. We had never been in trouble during the nights, so I am sure we'll be safe. Just be careful as we have always been." He ordered and all the men nodded and muttered in agreement.

Nobody dared to make their usual remarks about how sirens or merfolk were nothing more than legends, because they were aware that Sebastian never took any threat to his ship and crew lightly, even if it was considered only a hearsay or most probably based on the products of highly alert and imaginative minds of a night guard with the range of vision that heavily depended on the position and the brightness of the lanterns.

Nothing to fear, but it was always good to stay alert, because Sebastian had heard too many stories about sirens and merfolk and read quite a bit on them thanks to it being Lando's favourite subject material to practice on as he had taught the boy how to read. 

Being sceptical about the mythical horrors that the high seas hid in their bosom was in the nature of being a sailor, but he was not so sure about some things himself, either. He had some… encounters, too, but he mostly refused to talk about them. So, he always listened to his men whenever they'd be pleagued with the so called _sightings_ and the mostly exaggerated stories that they'd hear in the harbour taverns.

And then there were the eyes…

Still not certain if it had been the trick of his sleepless mind or his tipsyness or that near drowning experience he had… He didn't know, but he had seen those very same green-grey eyes three times.

They gave him the chills and the thought of them being real and following him around was driving him crazy. So, he preferred to not think about it, but also never took it lightly when his men talked about it.

That morning turned sourer when Lando approached him and gave him some new bit of news.

"Another hawk came by this morning. He took the bird in the quartermaster's room, Captain." 

"From which direction, were you able to see?" 

Lando nodded. "North… And before you ask, I checked it in the light, there isn't any ship in the north on the horizon, Sir."

Smiling at the boy's cleverness, Sebastian ruffled Lando's curls as a thanks. "Good job, Lando. Now go and have a rest." 

Sending the happy boy to the galley, Sebastian decided that it was time for a visit to their unwanted guest. 

Out of curtesy, he rapped on the door of Webber's cabin and actually waited for him to invite him in. This was going to be the last show of hospitality from Sebastian's side if the man would prove to be undeserving.

When he entered the room, the prey bird which had been perched on the edge of the bed turned its head to him. It was blind folded with a special head wear and stayed calm through the noise he made.

Webber sat up straighter in his seat, his eyes sharp but neutral. "Captain?" He acknowledged him and with that, Sebastian closed the door behind him.

The room was mostly unchanged from the time Daniel had been using it, except now there were more books and maps occupying the writing table. Actually, now that Sebastian took a good look at it, there was a chest at the back of the cabin, filled with books to the brim.

"You like reading…" He needlessly commented, mostly to break the ice.

Webber put his feather pen down and nodded, his gaze skidding over the messy state of his table. Books charts, a pen and ink set, long and thin wooden boxes and parchments covered the surface. "Unlike what you think I am knowledgeable about nautical dealings, Captain. And I owe it all to my reading. It's a very engaging hobby."

A little smirk appeared on Sebastian's lips at the subtle jibe. "Hobby, huh? Since your knowledge certainly doesn't relay on some real practice on the deck… Books it is, of course…" He nodded a bit condescendingly.

If his words had upsetted Webber, he didn't show it and hid it with a perfunctory smile of his own. "What do I owe the pleasure of your visit to, Captain?" He cut to the chase immediately.

It was for the better for Sebastian, too. "Who are you communicating with through these birds?" He asked without beating the bush.

Webber's reply was too quick and practiced. "It's my personal dealing, Captain. Asking about private matters is not very good etiquette."

Snorting at the filmsy excuse, Sebastian stepped further in. "If your private dealings are bordering on endangering my ship, I have the right to ask after them as I am the captain of this ship and responsible for its and my men's safety." He frowned at the sitting man, tipping his head back a bit in authority.

When Webber returned his stare with an unreadable expression of his own, Sebastian silently dared him to disagree. 

The amounting tense atmosphere was broken by Webber pushing some parchment pieces on the table towards him to peruse. 

"Here… This is our correspondence with Sir Horner if you must really read them, Captain." He offered. "I'm going to send my answer tomorrow morning."

Taken a bit aback by the ready cooperation of the other man, Sebastian came closer and took the parchment pieces. 

They were all small, folded many times neatly to make them compact enough for a bird to carry tied on its foot. 

He went through them, the lettering was scrawny but precise and the messages were short. Two little messages from Horner asking for a status report and one longer message by Webber on assuring him of the good status of the ship and the goods.

Sebastian could recognize the handwriting of Horner's finance representative and there was nothing that might create suspicion about. "I still don't understand why he put you to this task." Sebastian literally threw the parchment pieces back on to the table. "There's literally no reason for you to be here."

Webber raised an eyebrow at him. "I am here to make sure everything's proceeding in accordance with my client's interests." 

"Bullshit…" Sebastian scoffed and shook his head. "I have been working for him for two years now and he never put a useless guardian like you on my ship before. Not even on my first voyage."

"Well then, there must have been some trust issues arising between the two of you after you have lost half of his cargo in a storm the last time, right?" Webber reclined back in his seat and reminded Sebastian of their last voyage from the States back to Britain with their cargo of coffee beans getting defected with moisture due to the horrible storm and bad placement on the dock. 

It was Sebastian's sore spot. "Then you must also know that those containers had been filled by Horner's own people and the reason that they went bad was his own people's incompetence. Not because of my men or of a storm that nobody could have foreseen."

"That doesn't change the fact that he got only the half of the insurance money." Webber argued.

"Precisely because the company decreed the situation as his fault." When Webber didn't answer him but also didn't avert his gaze, Sebastian stared into the eyes of the other man long and hard, not fooled even a bit. "What is his problem? Does he expect you to hug the barrels to your chest and keep them safe if another storm or a pirate ship hit us?"

At Sebastian's ridicule, Webber just smiled at him as if he found the questions and the doubt childish. "Captain, I think it's high time you get used to the idea that I am going to be on this ship until your next docking. Like it or not, I will continue my correspondence. And if you have any further issue with this situation, I am sure you can work it out with Sir Horner's representative when we reach our destination."

That understanding and sweet tone of the other man made Sebastian sick. "So be it." He narrowed his eyes at him, their blue sharp and unyielding. There wasn't anything else that he could say about it, so he swiftly turned around and left the room. 

He hated that smug smile on the other man's face, but punching it in was not an option. At least for now...

He talked about his encounter both with Daniel and Lewis. They all had trouble with understanding their patron's reasoning. 

"But one thing is clear…" Lewis voiced aloud what Sebastian had already guessed. "Horner is possibly planning to drop us like hot potato if we muck this one up, too." He and Daniel were helping out with adjusting the sails on the main mass and Daniel nodded.

"Then we'll drop his ass before he could do that." He pursed his lips in annoyance. "That paycut from the last time still hurts like a bitch."

Sebastian couldn't help but agree. It had been undeserved after all the trouble they had gone through because of that storm. And he had lost two men during it. Horner was a cruel merchant through and through.

* * *

Towards the next dawn, Lando was half asleep in the crow nest, trying to stay awake until the next shift change. He was mostly looking at the horizon before him and the emptiness of it was pulling him to sweet sleep. But then, he heard one of the cabin doors open and it woke him up. Because, it wasn't the captain's cabin.

Carefully, he shifted into a good position to observe without letting himself be seen. It was Webber and he was out with the hawk perched on his arm.

The bird was sitting on the protective leather arm rest with a blindfold on its head. Webber turned towards the northern side and began undoing the ties on its feet and the blindfold on its head. When done, he offered the bird what seemed like a piece of dry meat as a reward and let the bird take off.

Lando watched the hawk circle around the ship in the sky a few times before it began to ascend and just as he was about to settle down again to watch the northern horizon, something unexpected happened.

A shiny little thing hit the bird before it could ascend completely and the hawk swayed about in the sky, losing altitude. Then, without a respite, the bird got hit again and it flopped onto the ocean with a pitiful cry.

Lando stood up in the nest to see what was going to happen to the bird and to his horrification, something pulled the still moving animal down into the waters and after a few seconds, all that was left for him to see was the gently rippling dark waters.

His eyes involuntarily going for the man on the deck, he found Webber looking up at him murderously before he began to yell at him with enough force to wake up every soul on the ship.

"Get back down here this instant, you rascal! Get down here this instant!"

Panicking as he realized that Webber had to be thinking him as the culprit, Lando hid in the small crow's nest as if it could stop the terrifying man below from hollering the heavens down on him. Then, he heard Nico's voice.

"Mate… Calm down… No need to yell at the boy. It can't be his doing." Nico came down from the upper deck after securing the helm, but Webber was furious.

"Not his doing? Not.His.Doing?" He asked, incredulous as if he had been offended by Nico's words. "Then who else have the vantage point to hunt a flying bird here other than that boy, explain to me!" 

He was creating a scene right before the captain's cabin door and unsurprisingly it swung open as Sebastian came out with only a loose white shirt thrown hastily over his pants, his hair mussled and his eyes bloodshot with his disturbed sleep.

"Calm the fuck down and stop yelling the first thing in the god-damned morning, Webber!" He ordered and when the taller man shut up, possibly because he was taken aback by his fury, Sebastian looked around and then up, seeing Lando's mop of brown hair peeking out of the nest.

"Lando, come down here!"

If it had been anyone else, captain or not, Lando would never listen to an order like this, but it was Sebastian. So, he slowly came down and approached the three waiting men.

When Webber tried to make a move at him in his anger, he was stopped by Sebastian putting his arm before him to block his way. And Nico put his body between Webber and Lando to keep the boy safe.

"Now, tell me from the beginning." Sebastian urged with a calm voice as the dawn broke over them all.

Webber took a deep breath and put his hands on his hips. "Did you order him to shoot the bird down?" He asked with venom in his voice, appearing to be already convinced of his deduction.

"What?" Sebastian was genuinely puzzled. "Your hawk? Why would I do that?" 

Daniel and Lewis got out of the quarters that they were sharing, too. But Webber didn't even look at their way.

"That boy shot my hawk twice until it fell onto the water and got swept away by the current!" He was pointing at Lando in such a cold fury that Lando was barely keeping himself together on his two feet. "Don't take me for a fool, Vettel! Especially after our talk yesterday!" 

"Are you soft in the head it what?" Sebastian grimaced. "I saw your correspondence, there was nothing in it. Why would I want to stop it?"

"How would I know?" Webber sneered at him. "Maybe you wanted to teach me a lesson since you couldn't come up with anything witty in our argument, huh?"

Sebastian stared at the man long and hard, this close to punching some sense into him, but he desisted and reined in his ire.

"Lando, did you shoot at the bird?" Lewis asked and the boy immediately shook his head.

"No, Sir… I swear it wasn't me! I swear!" 

"Then, who the bloody hell was it?!" Webber continued fuming.

When Lando visibily flinched with a choking sound coming from his throat, Sebastian couldn't take it anymore. "Stop scaring him." He warned in a low voice. "If he says he didn't, he didn't… Period. I trust my life with my men and their words are the truth for me."

Webber laughed in his face. "Oh, how very gracious of you, Captain! Such a nice bond you share with them! But it doesn't change the fact that one of them killed my hawk either on an order or on an impulse. This fact remains!"

"Did you see him taking aim?" Daniel seemed calm, but he wasn't. "Did you actually see the stone or whatever that hit your bird coming from the nest?"

"I didn't, but who else can it be?!" 

"Guards!" Sebastian raised his voice and three men came closer. 

Since two of them had been on the parts of the ship where they couldn't see the northern side, they weren't of help. But one of them insisted that two shiny little projectiles came out of the water and after the bird fell onto the water, something had pulled the animal in without even letting it to struggle.

"Stones coming out of the water?" Webber was befuddled by the absurdity of the guard's claim. But all the men who were present had gone several shades of white.

"Sir, the stones travelled up, not the sideways like Lando might have thrown them from that height." The guard defended solemnly.

This time, Webber laughed laudly in an irritatingly exaggerated way. "So, you are telling me that fish now have hands and can throw stones to hunt birds, huh?" Then he turned serious and looked at them all condescendingly. "You know what? Fuck you and your outrageous excuses. Next time a bird arrives and it gets killed by any of you again, you'll pay for it dearly when we hit the next dock." With that threat, he stalked to his cabin and shut the door behind him forcefully enough to destroy one of its hinges.

"Great, more work for Pierre…" Daniel flipped the birdie off towards the man's cabin before he turned back to Lando. "You didn't see anything?"

Lando shook his head again. "It was too dark. I just saw something shiny shoot up and hit the bird twice and it fell and really, Sir… Believe me, I wasn't the one who did it…" He pleaded again.

Sebastian reached out and ruffled his hair. "I never doubted you, Lando… But what you and the guard say is… quite unbelievable for a fool like that Webber guy." He sighed.

"What is unbelievable really?" Lewis ran a hand through his dreadlocks, clearly annoyed. "We all have a guess, don't we? But man…" He gave a long suffering sigh. "Why is it so hard to accept that it could be the siren's doing?"

"Because it might cause panic among the crew?" Sebastian reminded, incredulous, but quiet. "I don't want my men to think that we are surrounded by some vicious hunters that prey on human flesh, ready to pull them into the bottom of the ocean at the fist chance they get." He wasn't angry, he could never be angry with his trusted men. But there was an edge of desperation in his voice that Lewis couldn't ignore.

"As you wish…" He relented. "But I know what I saw as I tried to get you out of the water during that storm last year, Seb." Lewis whispered with a grim expression, aware that Nico, Daniel, and Lando could hear him well enough, too.

The other men all looked at Sebastian, but he shook his head after sighing heavily. "All hands dismissed…" He ended their talk and returned back to his cabin to possibly get dressed for the day, because he didn't even have his boots on.

Daniel patted Lewis' shoulder in solidarity. And together, they all went down to the galley to see if Romain was up and preparing their food. 

Nobody talked much about it, but they all clearly recalled how they had been about to lose their captain and friend during that stormy night. 

It was thanks to Lewis realizing that Sebastian had been hit on the head by a broken piece from the secondary mass and gotten thrown out by the motion of the swaying ship into the ocean, half conscious. 

Lewis had been able to get to him so easily that it had been eerie as if something kept Sebastian's pliant body up and brought him towards where Lewis had landed with his rope. And it really had been the case, because Lewis got a very good eye sight even in the dark and he knew what he had seen then.

It was a siren and Lewis had never seen something like that creature before. He couldn't make out a face or any distinct features of it, but Lewis was sure that what pushed Sebastian's half conscious body up into his arms and disappeared like a mirage had been a humanoid creature. A siren...

"Seen that, Seb? You've seen that, too?" Shell shocked, he had blabbered then, forgetting about the urgency of their situation for a second there as the men heaved them up to the deck again.

Sebastian had whispered back, then, his voice audible even over the sound of the crashing waves. "Those eyes… I know those eyes…"

Lewis had never talked about this with the other men, but he was aware that Daniel was also privy of the story. 

When he sat down with the younger man for some food, they began to talk in a quiet tone as they kept an eye on Lando, Nico and the guards of the night before. 

"He thinks he's been cursed, doesn't he?" Daniel rubbed at his beard, contemplating. "Now that a siren has saved his life, he thinks it is siren's to take whenever the creature desires it. Such an absurd belief..." He tsked.

Lewis tilted his head to the side, shrugging. "But everyone believes that… If so many have such encounters, live to tell the tale to everyone and then die in the sea with witness, then others will believe that, too."

Daniel snorted. But Lewis continued.

"Dead men tell no lies, Dan…"

Daniel took a huge gulp from his water. "Don't write off getting famous postmortem..." He pointed out, his smile not one of amusement. "Though I have no idea whatever use that kinda thing serves for…"

"Seb has never been one to believe in superstitions, so if he feels threatened by something like this, then I choose to believe him."

Daniel gave the other man's words a serious thought. The sirens were widely known but only considered as creatures of legends even though there had always been quite a number of sailors around who would insist that they had seen them following the ships, bidding their time for storms or pillagings or battles and waiting around to catch the sailors who'd fall into the ocean to drag them down to their deaths.

Unlike the romantic notions the common folk had about their voices, the sirens were even rumored to force the sailors to jump off their ships with their horrifying shrieks and screams, enough to drive them mad with agony and prefer death over hearing those blood curling songs that they sang.

"So, he is afraid that just because he has caught the eye of one of those creatures, we all might be in danger?"

Lewis looked up at him, swallowing his food. "He told me he saw the same siren two other times. One before that stormy night and one after it. He says he'd been drunk the first time and might have even talked to the creature for a bit."

Daniel raised a very doubtful eyebrow at that. "He had a conversation with a siren?" 

"Apparently, a one sided conversation, considering he is still alive…" Lewis quipped with a bit of amusement in his voice. "Says he recognizes it from the eyes and the colour of its tail…" 

If it had been anyone else but Sebastian, Daniel would have laughed his ass off at these wild claims, but Sebastian would never fool around when it came to their collective safety. So, he actually didn't know what to think about all these.

They ate the rest of their meals in silence, wondering what it meant for them if Webber's hawk got really hunted by a siren. Was there a reason behind it or were sirens really just playing with their minds? 

They didn't know how close they had been to find it all out.

* * *

Towards the end of the fourth week, Webber got another bird coming in. The taller man was giving a murderous glare to all of them and told them he was going to send the hawk back while it was still light out.

Sebastian ordered the look-out down on to the deck and asked Lando to stay beside him, so that the still vengeful man wouldn't suspect them if anything would happen to his bird again.

The hawk flew away alright. Everyone present watched it ascend in the sky, but Sebastian's eyes were on the water and Webber watched the crew on the deck. Nothing happened, not even a ripple on the water or a movement among the men. This was ridiculous.

According to their calculations, they had something between eight and twelve days to arrive at their destination. The lenght of the remainder of their voyage heavily depended on the condition of the wind and it looked promising.

The wind was good and filling the sails nicely. Though the waters were a bit wavy, it felt nice to gain some speed. Seeing the land a few days early was going to do wonders for everyone's mood. But then, what the sailors feared the most happened.

For the life of him, Sebastian was never going to understand how a warm and sunny afternoon had so quickly and inescapably evolved into a dark and frightening thunderstorm like this.

It began with rain, nothing was unusual about it, but as they travelled further, that gentle wind of earlier began to howl around them viciously. 

Sebastian realized that their route was taking them right into the eye of a huge storm. The waves began to reach impossible heights and their bottom line seemed so steep that several times Sebastian thought the ocean was just a rug and the gods were pulling it away from under their ship.

His insides churned with motion sickness even as he continued manning the helm. He was holloring orders at his crew to mind the sails and the ropes before they'd rip off the masses or worse yet get hit by the lightning.

The rain pelted on his face and it actually stung his skin with its force, making him and the crew feel like drowning rats clawing at the nearest surface for their dear life. And it might very well be the case, because some men were losing their footing on the groaning floor, some even skidding across the deck, trying to find something to take purchase from before hitting somewhere and knocking themselves out in the process.

They were plunging into another valley made of raging waters and Sebastian did everything in his power to turn the ship around a bit so that the wave wouldn't hit them sideways, but push them forward from the rear. The resulting groaning from the hull would have been terrifying for anyone else, but both Sebastian and the men hung on and persevered. Yet just then, as the ship leaned almost side ways against a rising wave, they got hit by the lightning.

The resulting booming crack of the electrical disharge shook everyone's bones and the strong white flash blinded them all for quite a while. With the help of sheer luck, Sebastian remembered where the next wave was supposedly going to hit them and he turned the wheel to the opposite side as soon as he gained his body's control back. 

When his eye sight returned, he screamed at the men, mostly to get them out of their momentary stupor caused by the lightning strike. "Everyone alright?!"

A chorus of "Aye, Captain!" was heard on the deck and Sebastian found some consolation in it. "So, get that last sail down!" He bellowed, but it was too late. The white cloth got ripped into two and began to flap around in the violent wind current.

He trusted his men to take it down, so he didn't take his eyes away from the tumbling ocean. "Boatswain! Ship status!"

A moment later, Lewis screamed back at him from the stairs that went below deck. "The hull has damage on the starboard side! No fire, but water in the ship!"

Now that was not good. "How severe?"

"Big enough hole to lose a canon into the ocean!"

 _Shit…_ That meant, if the storm would go on like this they would be in risk of spoiling all the grains in the cargo department, if not outright sinking. They needed to get out of here, but as the lightening illuminated the western horizon, all Sebastian could see were steep waves and more storm clouds.

Then, he heard Daniel scream at him from the stairs that went up to the helm. "Sebastian, look at the northeast side!" 

Sebastian didn't want to take his eyes away from the rabid waves even for a second, but if his quartermaster was calling him with his given name, then it had to be something serious. And something serious it was.

Several big dolphin like creatures were swimming on the northeast side of the ship, sometimes jumping a bit out of the raging waters to keep their distance with the ship, but they were unmistakably humanoid with tails varying in colour, arms and heads visible.

"Sirens!" Daniel shouted again, gripping at the railing on the stairs for dear life, white as a sheet, possibly because he was in shock about what he was witnessing to. "They are tracking the ship, Seb! Too many! There are too many!" He shouted.

"Nico!" Heart jumping up to his throat, Sebastian called his helmsman and Nico was beside him in just a few minutes. Giving up the control to the trusty man, Sebastian went down the stairs, unable to take his eyes away from the sight of the long tails that gleamed coldy close to the surface even in the sparse light. 

Uncaring of the sloshing water under his feet, he walked towards the starboard side and found Webber holding tight onto the bulwark like an octopus, watching the northeast horizon as it appeared and disappeared behind the raving waves, his eyes equally big, filled with dread.

Just then, another flash of lightning illuminated the chaos and Sebastian all but fell onto his knees at the sight, his knuckles going white as he held on the railing, the ship slanting towards the portside, bringing them dangerously closer to the creatures. 

A few men who had seen the sirens actually shreaked in shock and fear. There were nearly fifteen of them, watching the ship groan and whine among the waves, the noise she was making rivalling that of the howling wind.

There, the closest one to the ship, had those eerily beautiful eyes from Sebastian's muddled memories and was looking straight up at him, intelligent, fierce and filled with purpose. Sebastian couldn't take his eyes away from its mouth when it opened, those pearly white teeth looking impossibly sharp as the creature pointed at the east side and screamed at Sebastian.

Nobody had ever heard a sound like that before. Yes, it resembled to words, but was unintelligible. They could almost hear the meaning in it, yet the screeching was so agonizing that all they could do was to close their hands on their ears and scream back in hopes of drowning that noise.

Fear and hopelessness claimed the ones on the deck and when the male siren shouted at them again, Sebastian bellowed an order.

"Whoever doesn't have a pressing duty here, go down the deck now!" 

Only a few men left their post and the rest, surprisingly Webber, too, remained. 

As Nico wheeled them away from another towering wave, the sirens followed them insistently, that male risking coming even closer to where Seb was still watching it. The creature looked annoyed… maybe angry, and screamed at him again, its eyes sharp and full of meaning that Sebastian had no capacity to pay attention to now, because it felt like his ears were about to bleed from the sound.

When he could, Sebastian shouted back at the siren. "Go away, monster! There's no food for you to catch tonight from my ship!"

At that, the creature looked back at him heatedly and then outright screamed at him, possibly frustrated to see that it wasn't going to get to feast on human flesh soon.

When most of the sirens dove into the steeping wave again, Sebastian turned towards Webber who seemed to only had eyes for the northeast horizon now. "Get your ass back in your cabin, you fool!" Sebastian shouted at him, thinking that the taller man had to have gone crazy after witnessing to a storm of this size and finding out that the blood thirsty legends about the sirens were true.

When the other man didn't even spare him a glance, Sebastian swore under his breath and helped a sailor in tying up a slippery rope back to the bulwark hook where it belonged. He didn't have the luxury of sparing time to the thoughts of neither Webber, nor the sirens. 

Now, even as the wind and the rain were still attacking them like vicious animals, the waves still washed the deck surface and crashed at the side and rear of the ship, but Sebastian believed that they had overcame the worst of it. Now he believed that they could make it. But just as a bit of optimism was filling him, another blood curling shriek well timed with the lightening made them all turn their heads to the horizon that Webber had been gazing at and Sebastian saw it then. 

There was a ship, taller than theirs, approaching them fast from the northeast side. It wasn't uncommon to meet another ship on their course, but nobody would get this close during a storm unless they either needed help, wanted to offer it or they were just pirates.

This was not good. They had to be cautious. "Gunman, ready the starboard side canons!" He ordered, even though he didn't expect hostility from the quickly approaching ship as it looked pretty normal. But he couldn't help but notice how Webber was grinning with an air of accomplishment evident in him. Sebastian was going to learn the reason very soon when the other ship came to their side and fired her canons at them.

This was a pirate ship and Sebastian couldn't believe how they got so easily ambushed as they had been blindsided by the storm and the presence of the sirens. And what was worse than everything else was the damage the ship had gotten even though they'd been able to return fire quickly.

"Captain! The hull damage is on critical level!" Lewis was screaming at him. "Too much water is getting in! We'll sink if it goes on like this!" 

As the rain pelted on them full force, the severity of their situation sunk in all of the men present. They were forty men on board here. With Webber, forty one. This ship belonged to all of them, bought by their hard work's money. They were still paying back the debt that they had taken in order to buy it. And more than that, if the ship was going to sink, it was going to be a grave for them all.

Sebastian could never take a decision like this alone even though he also knew that the pirates had no mercy and might make them walk the plank after they'd finish pillaging the ship. All men on board knew that. Nothing was guaranteed, so everything was equally risky. But he had to do something and do it quickly. 

If his memory served him right, there were some rocky formations and a few little islands in the south close to where they were. Normally, nobody would go past them as it was risky for the ships to take damage to their hulls in the rocky bottom, but they all knew of their existence. Maybe they could use the life boats and reach one of them after purposefully washing the ship ashore there. They had food and water, they could hang on until somebody might find them.

"Nico, we go south! Keep it to the south!" He shouted at his helmsman and Nico immediately corrected the wheel after checking his compass.

"Men! What say you? Do we fight and risk dying on this ship? Or do we surrender and risk walking the plank?" He asked, then, his face grim, his eyes like two sharp knives.

For a second there, all that can be heard in the deck was the raving nature around them. Then, the men shouted almost in unison. 

"We fight!"

"We go down with the ship!" 

Their determination gave Sebastian the chills. "Then, fire!" He shouted and another round of artillery hit the other ship, now the crew on her deck visible for everyone. They had machettes and cutlasses in hand, waving them about and booing at them.

"All hands to the weapons!" Sebastian ordered, catching his own sword in the air after Daniel threw it at him. "Ready the canons again!" 

"Stop! Stop that! Are you crazy?!" Webber struggled to his side on the slanting deck, his eyes wide and his face drawn. "We'll sink! If they hit us again, we'll sink!" He shouted.

Frowning deeply at the other man's fear, Sebastian grimaced at his cowardice. "You can take one of the life boats and surrender to them if we sink." He told him matter of factly.

Webber grabbed onto his jacket then. "Fool! Surrender and I will parley with them for your lives!" 

"Don't assume everyone would accommodate your sour pussy like I did!" Sebastian slapped at Webber's hand for him to uphand him, but the other man tugged him up even closer. 

"I need this ship on the water! I need it afloat for a little longer!"

When Sebastian pressed the tip of his blade on his throat, only then Webber let go, his eyes half crazy with anxiety. "You'll die…" He prophesied. "Those sirens will feast on you, and I'll make sure of it!" 

Eyes widening at the reminder, Sebastian watched Webber grip the bulwark back again and shout as loudly as he could at the men on the other ship.

"Cease fire, Fernando! Cease fire!" 

_Fernando?..._ Sebastian was slack jawed for a moment, trying to process what was happening. Fernando, as in that famous Spanish pirate that worked for anyone who'd pay the price?

"What the fuck?!" He yelled and immediately attacked at the taller man. "Were you a spy? Did you betray Horner?" 

With an agility that Sebastian had never expected from him, Webber avoided his sword and quickly disarmed a man who was standing close to him. 

Daniel leaped into the action, too, but Webber easily parried the younger man's sword and even kicked at Daniel's stomach and caused him to roll aside on the slippery deck. 

"Betray Horner?" Webber laughed as he blocked Sebastian's sword and tried to hit his stomach like he'd done to Daniel, but Sebastian was the best swordsman around and he easily saw thru the trick and avoided it. "Horner was the one who arranged this, you fool!" He grinned.

Now, everything fell into its place seamlessly in Sebastian's mind. Shaken by the dawning realization that this was a planned pillaging and Horner was a low enough man to shake hands with a pirate to get the insurance money without losing his cargo, too, Sebastian had little doubt that him and his men had already been deemed expendible by the sleazy noble. Thus, he didn't hesitate giving his next order. "Fire at will!" 

Webber was this close to losing his mind. "Stop that! Stop, you crazy mother fucker! Stop!!" He attacked Sebastian with all his might and his sword managed to cut him on the left arm, but it was a shallow slash.

Hand guns and rifles spat fire. Hooks were being thrown to their bulwark, men trying to cut the ropes before the pirates would slide their way into their ship. But it was quickly becoming impossible to stop the hooks as they were also under fire. 

In a matter of seconds, Webber undid a hook thrown towards where he was and before Sebastian could reach and stop him, he jumped ship.

Burning frustration claimed Sebastian, but somebody fired beside him and shot Webber square on his shoulder in a perfect retaliation. It was Daniel with his eyes cold and jaw set.

"Serves that wanker right." The younger man didn't even stop to look if his target fell into the waves, quickly moving aside to put new rounds in his rifle and shoot again.

But Webber didn't fall. He managed to hang onto the rope and got pulled up to the deck of the pirate ship. 

That male siren appeared again and screamed at the taller ship, following Webber's motion up. More sirens joined his screaming and some men on the ropes even fell into the ocean. No time to watch how the sirens possibly pulled them down to their deaths.

The rain and the thunder continued rumbling above them and the wind was still wild and caused the waves to jostle the wounded ship like a broken cradle, possibly ruining it more. 

"Ship status!" Sebastian hollored and soon his answer came right beside him. 

Lewis had come out of the lower deck with a cold and matter of fact expression. "We are sinking." He declared, grim but calm.

Sebastian gritted his teeth, but there was nothing to do. "Let's hope Nico can take us to the rocks before it happens." He told the other man and Lewis patted his back before he moved aside and joined the guys who were trying to shoot at the other ship.

When the first few pirates managed to get onto their deck, the horrific sounds the sirens were making echoed around them like a deadly symphony. It hurt being forced to listen to them, most men couldn't even function whenever they did their unholy screeching. And somebody put an end to it.

"Fire at the creatures! Fire at will!" 

It was the captain of the other ship, Fernando. And upon his order, six men concentrated on shooting the sirens. That cut off their terrifying song immediately and they disappeared into the dark waters.

That helped the pirates board the wounded ship and in a matter of minutes, Fernando was clashing swords with Sebastian. 

"I know you are trying to reach the islands!" Fernando sneered at Sebastian. "The ship will sink before we reach there! You are all gonna die!" 

Sebastian knew that, too, still burning with Horner's betrayal. "So what?" He yelled back. "Horner will go bankrupt and your ship will wash ashore!" He grinned with sick satisfaction. "We go down, you go down, you raucous pirate!"

Fernando faked being hurt and looked back at him with disdain, avoiding the tip of Sebastian's cutlass skillfully. "Oh, please! I am an honorable privateer! I don't pillage, I do business!"

"What business do you have other than stealing my cargo and leaving me to death?!"

Fernando had the audacity to actually laugh at that. "This ship has to be on water! Surrender and I will let you guys on the life boats!" He screamed loud enough for everyone to hear, taking a step back to see the men's reaction.

Getting on those life boats meant nothing if their food and water would be taken. It was dirty business, but Sebastian could already see their dwindling numbers and honestly, it wasn't worth dying because of that pale assed noble's greed, but what could he do? 

Nobody stopped from their side, so Sebastian continued, too. They were all going to die, then.

"Fools!" Fernando spat at them. "I will sell you all in the slave markets!" He swore and attacked for real this time.

Just as expected, they lost the battle on the deck. With eighteen of his men dead, Sebastian got forced on his knees, held at gun point as he watched his sinking ship get pillaged by the pirates.

Fernando was in such a hurry that, for a moment it made Sebastian forget about their impending demise. 

"They are only taking the barrels with that small cross mark towards the bottom…" Lewis observed beside him, tied up just like him.

Hearing that, Daniel grinned and whispered. "I marked them." He looked feral, apparently taking great delight from what he had done. 

Both Sebastian and Lewis turned their eyes to him discreetly.

"Something's in them possibly… Felt naughty and made Pierre sand out the original markings…" 

They all took some morbid satisfaction out of it as their ship careened and groaned under them, lowering in the water rapidly.

When Fernando got what he wanted, he approached and made Sebastian get up. His men began dragging him to the stairs that went down to the lower deck. 

Lando screamed his name, understanding what the pirate captain was going to do to Sebastian, but there was nothing that he could do. He turned his eyes upon the ocean in despair and cried.

Just then, the lightning stroke again and he saw the sirens waiting silently in the water. They were all making a _"come down here"_ motion with their hands. Bewildered, he nudged the closest men to him and showed the sirens to them. 

At another time, Lando would have thought that the sirens were trying to lure him down to be eaten, but now, there was such urgency and panic on their faces that he couldn't help but think that maybe they weren't meaning harm… 

It caught Lewis and Daniel's eyes, too. And they shared a meaningful look. Dying in the arms of a beautiful and legendary creature seemed to be way better than being sold in the slave market of a godforsaken land and living the rest of your life in some deranged maniac's hands.

"All men! Abandon ship!" Daniel ordered whoever was left alive and hearing that from their quartermaster was enough for them to jump the ship.

Some got shot at and some couldn't make it out of their captor's hands, but most men had managed to get into the ocean in one piece. Sirens were immediately upon them, their shrieks terrible enough for the pirates to fall back and forget about Sebastian's crew. In any case, they were all dead meat.

Down in the second deck, Fernando was tying Sebastian up to one of the pillars with his two men. 

Even though he struggled to the best of his ability, Sebastian couldn't get away from them. When they secured him up tightly, they fell back and Fernando approached him with a sleazy glint in his eyes. 

"You'd fetch quite the dime in a slave market." He grinned, sizing the younger man up and down. "I might have even kept you for myself..." He lamented, his sadness fake. "But you weren't a good host for Mark, were you?"

A sharp grin claimed Sebastian's lips. "Oh, sorry he won't be able to fuck you for a while, Captain." 

Of course, the slight didn't sit well with Fernando and he hit Sebastian with the back of his hand. Yet even after Fernando's slap, that grin stayed on Sebastian's face, now bloody.

Their attention got taken away by the song of the sirens again, gunshots accompanying it. Immensely annoyed with interruption, Fernando cussed heavily in Spanish. "Soon you'll be siren food… Too bad you won't feel it when they'll chomp on your flesh, _captain_." With that, he combed his long hair back with his fingers and put his hat on, tipping it at Sebastian before he left him to his death.

The water was knee-high now and it was rapidly rising. Sebastian tried to get out of his ropes, willingly dislocating the thumb of his left hand to create a bit of more room to get his hand out. It hurt like a mother fucker and he screamed at the pain, but there was no one to hear him.

As he struggled, the ship began to slant to the portside and made the things move freely towards his way. Nothing big hit his body, thankfully, but as it was slowly putting him into a laying position, he was possibly going to drown even before the ship would be submerged in the water completely.

He was afraid. He fleetingly wondered about if his crew was still alive. Lando's scream was still in his ears and as the water rose up to his chest he was this close to giving up on his struggle when he managed to get his left hand free. Filled with hope again, he maneuvered around the pillar to get his other hand out as the cruel men had tied up his hands under separate knots. But then, he saw something red slither its way down into the compartment.

His heart filling with actual dread, he looked around in fear. 

A siren had just crawled and slipped down the stairs as if it was so desperate to get its food that it couldn't even wait for the ship to sink completely. 

Groping around for anything that he could use to hit the siren with, Sebastian struggled for dear life. It was dark and he couldn't see much, but the feeling of being touched by a cold and clawed hand on the arm was unmistakable and bone chilling. 

He kicked at the siren as violently as he could and possibly because of the pain, the siren surfaced and yelled at him. 

Sebastian yelled back to drown the excruriating sound. He had recognized the siren. That green-grey eyed male with a red tail… And it appeared to be in some sort of urgency. Sebastian just focused on keeping his head up above the water and free his other hand. But the siren tried to pull him down into the water.

Driven by panic and fear, he saw a piece of plank wood float by and he propelled himself to the side to get it. Upon taking a hold of it, he swung it at the siren with all his might, albeit mostly blindly. But it hit.

He had successfully hit the creature on the head and even he could see the bright red blooming on the side of its head as it fell away to the bottom of the flooded compartment.

Sebastian felt horrible for doing that, but he didn't want to be siren food, yet. Now, with the siren out of the picture, he thought he might have a chance to survive. So, he went on struggling, but it was to no avail. He wasn't able to get his hand out of the other knot with his left thumb not working properly even though he had managed to put it back.

Taking a huge breath for the last time, he tried once more, but the knot didn't yield. He was rapidly losing consciousness. The blackness on the edge of his vision was spreading and the last thing he saw was that red tail, swishing up towards him. He closed his eyes and gave up struggling, his mind flashing back to the time he had been almost drowning again.

This was a horrible feeling. His head felt like it was going to explode, but his mind stubbornly persisted in keeping his mouth shut even though his body begged for him to breathe in the salty water deep into his lungs.

He didn't know how long it lasted, but he thought he heard an angry voice telling him to hold on and not open his mouth. It was a novel thing… A trick of his oxygen depraved brain, but he obeyed that voice for as long as humanly possible until he could no longer resist the inevitable.

The rest was cold and dark and frightening, but interestingly enough, no longer lonely. 

_TBC..._

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and kudos! It means a lot now more than ever!


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